- Oil barrel, (abbreviation bbl): a legacy volume measure of 42 US gallons (34.9723 imp gal; 158.9873 L). It can also mean 35 imperial gallons (42.0332 US gal; 159.1132 L). Commonly a barrel is regarded as 159 L volume.
See caveat below regarding considerations for conversion to metric units.
The standard oil barrel of 42 US gallons is used in the United States as a measure of crude oil and other petroleum products. Elsewhere, oil is commonly measured in cubic metres (m3) or in tonnes (t), with (metric) tonnes more often being used by European oil companies. International companies listed on American stock exchanges tend to express their oil-production volumes in barrels for global reporting purposes, and those listed on European exchanges tend to express their production in tonnes. There can be 6 to 8 barrels of oil in a ton, depending on density. For example: 256 US gallons of heavy distillate per ton, 272 gallons of crude oil per ton, and 333 gallons of gasoline per ton.
Read more about this topic: Barrel (unit)
Famous quotes containing the words oil and/or barrel:
“Is a park any better than a coal mine? What’s a mountain got that a slag pile hasn’t? What would you rather have in your garden—an almond tree or an oil well?”
—Jean Giraudoux (1882–1944)
“I do not know if you remember the tale of the girl who saves the ship under mutiny by sitting on the powder barrel with her lighted torch ... and all the time knowing that it is empty? This has seemed to me a charming image of the women of my time. There they were, keeping the world in order ... by sitting on the mystery of life, and knowing themselves that there was no mystery.”
—Isak Dinesen [Karen Blixen] (1885–1962)